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Rogue for worlds issue 2:Quad Kartana

So on our continuation into the possible rogue decks that, may prove to be a contender at worlds this year I have mustered up another good deck that may just be the most annoying deck I will ever do- EVER! ENJOY

So with kartana, he is really considered to be a supporting pokemon for things such as beast box and is used primarily for the ability and under some circumstances, the GX attack but as I found out after experimentation with this deck it can function perfectly well as its own entity due to its power to shuffle itself back into the deck hitting relevant enough numbers to get solid 2 hit kills while your opponent struggles to kill one of this annoying Pokemon as it doesn't stay on the field long enough to feel any impact from the attacks, with the addition of bursting balloon most of the time they won't want to attack you.

Energy (12)

So under the release of ultra prism, I think it was just me who was declaring this to be the best card in the set with no possible rival yet when it did come out next to no one was playing the card. But in this deck, the ability to shuffle itself back into the deck has its severe consequences on the opponent whose special energy cant remain on the field while you slowly chip away at the active pokemon. The fact that most decks are not prepared for this deck gives it a great edge when it ends up against foes such as zoroark and buzzwole who are heavily reliant on special energy cards considering that kartanas ability discards one so that is at least 4 enhanced hammer worth right there, not considering that once shuffled back into the deck it is possible to use ultra space to recycle all the kartana.

3-Tapu-Lele GX

This card has been a staple in each deck since sun and moon 2 came out in stores as the wonder tag ability is amazing and though it makes the deck a lot less of a budget build, within a deck like this having the capability to search for the supporter you need when you need it makes sure that the optimal play is always available such as a draw supporter or a guzma for cheeky early knockouts on evolving basics that only have about 70 HP which conveniently enough is enough for a kartana to kill.

2-Dhelmise(Steelworker)

While this card is played in nearly every steel deck that has the space to do so and for good reason as the extra damage is what really helps propel this deck to being viable for play. Though it is not a lot more damage it is still a relevant amount to be adding in terms of hitting the numbers.

1-Cobalion(Revenge Blast)

The other staple for most steel decks and is a great card to run with counter energy also if you so wish to do so as it may be one of the best late-game attackers/ comeback attackers in the XY era as it does more damage depending on how many prize cards the opposition has taken meaning that your one prize pokemon can take easy 2 prize knockouts.

2-Magearna EX

Right so around here effects of attacks are a giant thing based on the decks but I well understand that at worlds there will be fewer effects of attacks that are relevant so if you so wanted cutting one magearna or even both for the addition of two Bridgette.

4-Bursting Balloon

So when the Kartana shuffles itself back into the deck you must place a new active pokemon so what better way to keep up the feel of the deck than to place bursting balloons (prior to attacking) on the pokemon you plan on placing in the active which most of the time will be a tapu lele or a Kartana.

2-Float Stone

This is mostly to retreat out of the active position after shuffling in the active Kartana so that you can set up the same thing for the next turn.

4-Ultra Space

So imagine that the kartana has just gone back into the deck you may need a way of searching it back out so with this field spell it not only means that the ability can be reused but it means that you have a reliable and consistent way each turn to set back up on the kartana.

4-Max Elixir

In order to set up the kartana much faster as you know the best form of accelerating energy and I refuse to use beast ring this build as it clogs a lot.

4-Ultra Ball

The staple for searching cards will be in most decks on this page

3-Acerola and 2-Guzma

While I run more acerola than my boy in this deck it is really up to personal preference as it doesn't matter to be fair just all down to personal preference.

2-Nest ball

I am a freak for consistency so I thought two of these to search out dhelmise or cobalion not to forget magearna, so mostly the pokemon who are needed for their abilities solely.

3-Choice band

This is needed here as the thing that can get the 2 hit knockouts on things and one hits on something such as sylveon or glaceon whose weakness allows this possibility but will take you up to 100 damage before you shuffle away the kartana add the dhelmise it will equate to 120 if the game goes perfectly for you.

2-Field Blower

This is here not just because it is another great card but because this deck really struggles against garbodor as the ability is needed on both kartana to shut down the unit energy they sometimes run as well as the dhelmise so that the extra damage can be hit.

3-Cynthia and 3-Sycamore

This split seems to be optimal up to now for me as the consistency is hit pretty well already with the ultra space and ultra balls ETC.

Energy:

4-DCE

8-Metal

Matchups:

So I did three tests online with the deck and while I probably should have done more testing with it the matchups were pretty interesting and in their own way show how well kartanacan hang with the current decks in the meta.

Zoroark: Very Favourable

this was a rather favorable match for the quads as the ability destroyed the deck despite the opposition playing 2 copies of special charge, the combination of shuffling and then using ultra space to reuse the ability discarding the energy over and over again the opponent scooped after I discarded all their energy which I think came to a total of seven or so times.

Buzzwole: Even

This match could have gone either way, to be honest considering even though I won it was down to him not drawing an energy the turn after I managed to acerola a kartana to discard the beast energy meaning he could not use knuckle impact on the following turn. SO while it is an even match it will really go to whoever sets up first.

Zoroark and Golisopod: Favourable

Right this deck was a little bit of a pain to cope with I mean in terms of getting used to how it functions around you but after figuring it out over when to place down the kartana to discard the special energy the match becomes quite easy to play around with.

Conclusion

So after the testing and figuring out some of the flaws, I think though this deck may have had a chance at worlds I think there are many different decks that could undermine this deck the main one being garbodor and sometimes the decks where not much special energy cards are played the deck may struggle but it can cope and it also does have a high success rate so be welcome to copy the deck and do with it what you will.

So thank you for reading I hope you have enjoyed this article and the ideas it has contained if you have any questions please email me at jackfroste221@gmail.com

If you want any other member of the team email first at PTCGinbound@gmail.com

And don't forget to check out the channel: PTCGunlimited over on youtube.